Reality Check
by LisaJ
Summary: Rory returns to Stars Hollow and reflects on her life.
1. Chapter 1

Rory gather up her worn duffle back and battered suitcase and exited the bus. Here she was back in Stars Hollow.

When had it all gone wrong? Rory wondered as she trudged towards her mother's home.

The first sign something was wrong was when Sookie had gone insane. One day she'd snapped, turning on Lorelai, complaining that she was doing all the work of running the Inn while Lorelai, "was out running around town all day doing absolutely nothing". Even worse, Sookie hired a shark of a lawyer and forced Lorelai to sell her share of the Inn, leaving Sookie as sole proprietor. It would have served her right if the Inn had failed, but surprisingly, the business had thrived. The restaurant had even been featured on the Food Network as one of New England's finest eateries.

It was bizarre that her mother hadn't been offered a comparable position at another Stars Hollow business. However, everywhere she went, the townspeople would make some excuse about not needing help. One proprietor had even said that he "couldn't afford to drive the customers away". Neither Lorelai or Rory understand that sentiment. Didn't everyone want to hear lots and lots of high-speed chatter and obscure pop references?

Unable to afford the mortgage, Lorelai had been forced to sell her house and was forced to move to a 'manufactured housing estate' located next to the railroad tracks. In retrospect, perhaps the extended trip to Europe and numerous shopping sprees hadn't been the best use of Sookie's money.

It was a shame that Richard had hired Sookie's lawyer, hidden all his assets, divorced Emily, and married a gold digger, leaving Emily virtually penniless. Even worse, he told Lorelai, "You're forty years old, I put Rory through Yale; the bank of Gilmore is closed". No more money coming in from that quarter. It had been a real come down for Emily, moving from Gilmore Manor to Lorelai's broken down trailer.

She passed the former site of Luke's diner, now a Mooby's Golden Calf franchise. Rory still didn't know why Luke had suddenly broken off his engagement to Lorelai and sold the diner to a burger chain, who promptly hired Kirk to be the manager. Sure, Luke had apparently complained that he had gotten, "Sick of Lorelai's BS", but that was impossible. Lorelai was quirky and charming, not rude, self-centered and annoying.

It was so unfair that after only one hour working the register, Lorelai had been banished to the back, just because a few customers had complained about "annoying yip-yap", and "blathering on and on about some stupid old movie". It was outrageous treatment. They were Gilmores! She thought about stopping in to visit her mother, but the last time she had, her mother's boss had bitched both of them out. Rory bridled at the memory. How dare Kirk have had a problem with her showing up unannounced, going into the food prep area, and having a nice, long, heart-to-heart with her own mother? How dare he tell Lorelai to, "get your ass in gear and start making burgers, we've got hungry customers out there".

As she made her way through the sleet, a panel truck ran through a giant puddle of slush and soaked Rory. She glared angrily at the truck, noting the Forester Construction logo. Shaking the worst of the cold, grimy liquid, Rory seethed with anger.

Years earlier, after her breakup with Logan, she had tried to re-kindle her romance with Dean, figuring that he'd make a good standby until a better prospect turned up. His reaction had stunned her.

"You strung me along for two years, broke up my marriage and then dumped me! Why the hell would I EVER want anything to do with you again?" Dean had yelled. Rory had stammered adorably, given him her best 'cute' look, but to no avail. He selfishly refused to be her boyfriend. Even worse, as she slunk away, she could have sworn she had heard him mutter something about how he must have been crazy to have spent so much time obsessed with a girl who looked like a bobble-head doll.

Could he really have become disenchanted with her? No, that wasn't possible. It was obvious that poor Dean had fallen under the malign influence of some skank. His attitude certainly wasn't the result of anything she'd done to him.

Thinking of ex-boyfriends, Rory remembered the last time she'd seen Jess. After the Dean debacle, she went back to Philadelphia to find her former boyfriend. The bookstore had a sign reading, "Closed for Good – Blame Amazon"; his apartment was occupied by a family of Somali refugees. In desperation, she looked him up on Amazon; his book was ranked #27,800 with terrible reviews. "Easy to skim" being the best one. Rory had given up on finding him, when outside the train station; she'd spotted a filthy, ragged bum wearing a hipster fedora ranting about how he was smarter than anyone else. It was Jess! Rory had made her way quickly into the station and mentally checked him off her list.

Making her way down the icy sidewalk, Rory pondered her real problem. How was she supposed to tell her mother that she had been fired again? At least Lorelai hadn't known that she hadn't worked in the newspaper field since late 2007. The newspaper business had taken a nosedive in the last few years and there were no openings in that field.

When print journalism didn't work out, Rory had naturally turned to TV news. After all, you can't be the next Christiane Amanpour without TV experience. She hadn't even gotten to the point of auditioning. As soon as she opened her mouth, the personnel at all the major networks, cable stations and Channel 52 winced at the sound of her voice. The worst was the Channel 52 news director who told her that, "no way in hell will anybody take you seriously, girlie. You sound like an eight year old and you look like a bobble-head doll". Rory was furious at the unwarranted criticism. If there had been a yacht nearby, she would have stolen it.

After a breakdown, she had reluctantly conceded defeat and decided to grace the business world with her vast talents. Rory had naturally expected to get a top paying job at a Fortune 500 corporation.

It was puzzling, even though she was a Gilmore, she kept getting turned down. It was almost as if hiring managers couldn't see her obvious superiority. For some reason, they kept harping on unimportant things such as her lack of experience, not possessing relevant skills, and her college major. Surely a journalism degree from Yale qualified her for an executive position in an investment bank, import/export firm, or stockbrokerage.

Rory didn't like to remember the next few months, applying for job after job, sometimes getting hired as a seasonal store clerk or working temp jobs. The worst was the job holding the spinning sign at a real estate open house. Rory didn't understand why those jobs never worked out. You'd think managers would want to get advice on how to run their businesses from a Yalie, but no, time and time again, she'd been unfairly dismissed.

After yet another breakdown, she'd managed to land a nearly-full time gig as a stock clerk at a dollar store. Naturally, she had kept this from her mother. It was tiring making up stories of her highly-paid job, and coming up with excuses why she couldn't help Lorelai out financially.

That had lasted until last week when she'd seen a news item about Logan Huntzberger's engagement to a Greek shipping heiress. Okay, so maybe having a screaming meltdown in the candy aisle wasn't exactly the most mature reaction to hearing about her former beau's upcoming wedding, but that was no reason to fire her. Had they no sympathy?

Worse yet, not one of her co-workers had believed her when she told them that Logan had once proposed to her. "Girl, ain't no way no rich dude ever asked you to marry him," one had said, sneering at her. "Why ain't you married him? He's rich" another had asked. They didn't understand the reasons she'd turned down the son of a billionaire. To be honest, neither did Rory. It's not as if the world abounds in young, handsome, extremely wealthy, men who want to marry the illegitimate daughter of a hotel maid. Rory had to admit she'd really screwed the pooch on that one.

She'd come home to find an eviction notice on her door. The landlord, that crass bastard, was immune to the Gilmore Girl charm. He actually expected to be paid in money every month.

So here she was, back in Stars Hollow, with nothing to look forward too other than the prospect of sleeping on her mother's sofa. Maybe Kirk would give her a job at Mooby's.

Fin


	2. Chapter 2

Emily sighed. Where had it all gone wrong? Once she had been chatelaine of Gilmore Manor, a fixture on the social scene, wife of an accomplished man, and grandmother to a Yale graduate who had a bright future in journalism and men, wealthy men, falling at her feet. Now she was an aging divorcee living in squalor, snubbed by her former friends, reduced to living on the charity of her daughter.

First Richard had become infatuated by a bimbo. Worse, he had managed to hide all his assets and promptly divorced her on grounds of emotional cruelty. The parade of fired maids attesting to her viciousness had obviously been paid off. Richard sold stately Gilmore Manor, ran off with the proceeds to Brazil, leaving Emily no choice but to move in with Lorelai.

Emily stared out the window in despair. Could this day get any worse?

She spotted a familiar figure headed towards the trailer. It was Rory. Emily sighed. Rory had been such a disappointment, even worse than Lorelai in some aspects – at least Lorelai could keep a job. That little incident with the yacht had given Rory a criminal record, and with today's background checking it was impossible for Rory to find decent employment.

Who would have known that one act of grand larceny would have such repercussions? It was most unfair! Rory was a Gilmore, not some guttersnipe from the inner city. Why should one mistake taint her entire life? For Rory, the princess of Stars Hollow, the apple of her family's eye, to be treated as if she were an ordinary girl was outrageous, Emily thought. She grudgingly acknowledged that Lorelai, despite her many failings, had never fallen so low as to commit a crime.

In retrospect Rory had been a fool to refuse Logan Huntzberger's marriage proposal. It's not as if young, handsome, incredibly wealthy men grew on trees. So Logan wanted her to move to California, big deal. They have plenty of media outlets in California, and with the Huntzberger connections Rory could have written her own ticket. But no, Rory refused to leave Connecticut. For someone who wanted to be an investigative reporter, Rory's reluctance to go more than 25 miles from home was a bit strange. Perhaps the elder Huntzberger had had a point, Emily thought momentarily. No, that was impossible. Rory was absolutely perfect.

Emily's subsequent matchmaking attempts had been failures. Despite Emily's best attempts, none of her DAR connections had borne fruit. Bizarrely enough, it seemed that the matriarchs of New England's best families didn't consider Rory to be worthy of their sons and nephews. Eleanor Standish had said, "She's not that pretty and she's not that special." Cordelia Alden had made a snide remark about jailbirds and Mrs. Winthrop had referred Emily's precious granddaughter as "the bastard daughter of a hotel maid!

Well, at least Rory could expect to receive her inheritances shortly, which would restore the Gilmore girls to their proper place in society. No more minimum wage jobs for her little Princess, Emily thought happily.

Emily noticed a letter on the floor under the mail slot, its expensive, cream colored paper making in incongruous contrast with the bills, flyers, and assorted junk mail. Noting it was from Wolfram and Hart, the law firm administering Rory's trusts from the Gilmore and Hayden estates, she eagerly opened the letter.

Typical for a legal communication, it was written in an obtuse style. The legalese was hard to read, but the phrase "legitimate issue" leapt out at Emily. To her dawning horror, she realized that according to the wording of both trusts, the Hayden and Gilmore fortunes were not to go to Rory after all. Apparently, the lawyers had included language excluding any "unlawfully born" claimants from inheriting, a sentiment Emily would have wholeheartedly agreed with if it had pertained to any other family.

Warring emotions fought for possession in Emily's heart. On one hand, Rory being screwed out of her inheritance because of her illegitimacy was a bitter blow and Emily felt an equal mixture of pity and outrage. On the other hand, this proved that she had been correct in wanting Lorelai to marry Christopher and she couldn't help feel a rush of satisfaction at having been right all along.

Gazing out the window again, her eyes narrowed at the sight of a Forester Construction truck driving down the street. It managed to hit a deep puddle, soaking Rory in filthy slush. Damn that Dean Forester, she thought angrily. How dare he reject Rory? Just because she'd dated and dumped him several times didn't give him the right to decide that she was, as he had put it, "toxic", and refuse to have anything to do with her ever again. Then he had had the nerve to become a success despite his lack of blue blood while poor Rory bounced from one minimum wage job to another. Outrageous!

Her reverie was interrupted by Rory tracking slush into the trailer, dropping her worn duffle bag on the uneven floor, and announcing, "Hi Grandma, I just got fired from another job".

It seemed the day could get worse after all.

Fin


	3. Chapter 3

Stars Hollows had changed, and not for the better, Lorelai thought as she walked home from her shift at Mooby's Golden Calf. After Taylor had been impeached for misusing the town's funds on what was called "an endless series of stupid festivals", the bankrupt town had to cut back on everything, including trash pickup, road repair, sidewalk maintenance, and street lights.

The quaint businesses had been replaced by bail bondsmen, check cashing places, strip clubs, and liquor stores. Mrs. Kim's store had been the first to go. Suddenly all the customers had stopped taking her crap. Some jerk on the internet had even posted stories about Mrs. Kim on the Bad Service LiveJournal.

Stars Hollow's decline started about the same time her life had gone straight into the crapper, she thought. It all began the night of the Snowflake Festival, the last one ever held in Stars Hollow.

One moment the crowd of nameless townspeople were standing in the background as usual, the next moment everyone jumped and looked around in bewilderment as if they'd been suddenly been awakened from a dream. "What the hell?", "Why are we here?", "Didn't we have a Winter Festival just last week?", "What's with the guy with the guitar? Is someone paying him?" were some of the things Lorelai had heard.

After several awkward minutes, everyone had just gone home. The next morning an emergency town meeting had been called. So many people attended the crowd overflowed onto the street, and some nobody who promised to "get to the bottom of this crap" was voted in as Mayor. The mood had grown increasingly worse as the extent of town's financial troubles was revealed. Taylor had been lucky to escape without being lynched.

Worse of all, Lorelai's attempt to monopolize the conversation with her best quips, stream of consciousness wordplay, and obscure pop culture references had been rudely shouted down. "Who the hell asked for your opinion?" one boor yelled. "WTF are you talking about?" snapped another. "If you don't have anything intelligent to say, shut your pie hole!" That last one prompted a chorus of cheers. Lorelai had slunk away in shame.

That humiliation was only the beginning. Naturally, she went to Luke's Diner for solace.

Ignoring the crowd of paying customers waiting for their food, Lorelai stormed behind the counter, grabbed Luke's arm, and demanded that he take her home.

"Can it wait, Lorelai?" Luke had said, "Cesar's out sick and I'm slammed here."

"Of course it can't wait, Milord. I've been violated by the entire town," Lorelai had said winsomely. "My very being has been tarnished. I have need of my soulmate to console me and make me whole!"

Luke stared at her as if he'd never seen her before.

"Jesus Christ, Lorelai, can't you talk like a normal person for once?" he snapped.

Lorelai reeled. How could he be so cruel?

"She's mad because somebody told her to shut her yap at the town meeting," a man sitting at the counter said. Several others muttered their agreement. "It's about time," an anonymous voice said.

Luke kept staring at Lorelai. A strange expression crossed his face. After several minutes, he took off his apron, said, "I'm through with this crap," kicked the customers out, locked the diner's door, and went home. Within the week the diner had been sold to a fast food chain, Kirk installed as manager and Luke was happily retired.

The next morning when she ran into Miss Patty and Babette was even weirder. Just as she started to launch into a detailed description of her fight with Luke, Miss Patty had cut her off with a curt, "who the hell cares?" To add insult to injury, Babette had nodded in agreement and added, "You're not the center of the universe ya know. The rest of us have lives too".

It was all downhill from there. Sookie had staged a coup at the Inn, Richard dumped Emily, and for some mysterious reason Rory couldn't get a decent job. After losing the house, she found herself living in a dump with a disgruntled Emily. Worst of all, she was forced to labor at Mooby's under the evil dictatorship of Kirk.

And hard labor it was. After that ridiculous misunderstanding with the petty cash, she had barely kept her job. It was so unfair; she'd really needed those designer shoes! How dare Kirk call her a common thief! Didn't he realize she was a Gilmore? She had been forced to 'make nice' with Kirk ever since. Lorelai shuddered at the memory.

It was time like that these when you found out who your true friends were. In her case, it was nobody. It turned out that over twenty years of talking over everyone, lording her extensive knowledge of old movies over them, and generally acting as if they were mere satellites to her Gilmore Magnificence had alienated everyone in town. Shockingly, she, a Gilmore, was considered 'rude and stuck up', not charming and vivacious. Who would have thought it?

A sudden blast of cold, muddy water interrupted her reverie. Damn that Forester Construction driver. This happened every time she walked down the street, almost as if he'd gone out of his way to soak her. Oddly enough, the same thing had happened to Emily several times. Lorelai couldn't understand why. It's not as if Dean had any reason to dislike her family. They'd treated him with nothing but kindness and consideration.

At last she reached the trailer, her refuge, her castle, her sanctuary, only to be greeted by the sight of her mother and daughter knocking back a box of generic wine.

"Hi Mom," Rory said, her voice slurred. "Guess what? I got canned again and I'm not eligible for my trust fund money because I'm a bastard."

Lorelai screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

Epilogue:

Richard relaxed happily into the deck chair. His life had taken a turn for the better and he intended to enjoy every moment to the fullest.

Pennilynn in her wisdom had refused his marriage proposal. Realizing that getting married would destroy their relationship, she had become his mistress instead. Richard lavished her with expensive gifts, took her to the finest out-of-the-way restaurants, and trips to exotic locations. The thrill of the forbidden really spiced up their love life.

Then, after enjoying his exotic, erotic adventures, he'd return home to his new wife Amber, the hottest woman Richard had ever known. One of his favorite activities was to take her out in public and bask in the envy of the other men and the jealousy of their wives. Life was good.

He heard a blip from his phone, picked it up, gave it a brief glance, and then put it back down. It was just a text from his broker, nothing important.

Speaking of investments, his decision to loan Dean Forrester the money to start his own construction business had paid off handsomely. Dean Forrester was an honest, hardworking young man who was rapidly expanding his business. Reconciling with that lovely wife of his had been the second best decision of his young life. And to think that he'd thought that boy hadn't been good enough for Rory!

His face hardened at the thought of Rory. That girl had been handed every opportunity to make a success of her life, but had wasted them all. He'd paid for her expensive education, introduced her to the finest young men, and she threw it all away.

He couldn't really blame himself for Rory, as she had been reared by Lorelai. Well, not so much reared as coddled, spoiled and made the center of her mother's universe. The end result was a hothouse flower who couldn't handle criticism and who didn't want to venture more than a few miles from home. The latter being quite a handicap for someone who wanted to be an international reporter.

Lorelai had been no better. Richard didn't believe in the nobility of poverty. Why make your life harder than it has to be? But no, that wasn't what Lorelai had wanted. Lorelai was stubborn as a rock. She worked long hours at a menial job, lived in a shed for years, and called it independence. More like pig-headed stupidity in Richard's opinion.

Really, all he and Emily had wanted was for their daughter to have the best, the best schools, the best men. What was wrong with wanting your child to have a good start in life? Why was wishing your daughter to never want for anything, to associate with the movers and shakers of the world so wrong?

Granted, Emily was a vicious harridan and his mother had been right about her, but that didn't excuse Lorelai's refusal to grow up. He remembered their last conversation. Lorelai had embarked on her usual tedious, juvenile banter when something inside Richard had snapped.

"Oh for crying out loud! You're forty years old. At some point, Lorelai, you have to take stop blaming your parents, take responsibility for your own life and grow the hell up," he'd said angrily. Lorelai had gaped at him like a dead fish.

Lorelai had chosen to move out and refuse all help; Rory had accepted his help but blew her opportunities. As for Emily, forty years spent with that termagant was more than enough. He intended to life the rest of his life to the fullest.


End file.
